Author: viking

Scientists say the powerful Indonesian earthquake that killed more than 300 people lifted the island it struck by as much as 25cm.
Using satellite images of Lombok from the days following the August 5 quake, scientists from Nasa and the California Institute of Technology’s joint rapid imaging project made a ground deformation map and measured changes in the island’s surface. In the northwest of the island near the epicentre, the rupturing fault line lifted the earth by a quarter of…

Gambling companies operating in Britain will be asked to disclose more data to help inform research into harmful play.

Scotland’s under-resourced licensing boards risk being swamped by the first round of applications to renew personal liquor licences since the new regime entered into force in 2009, an expert has warned.

If the government decides to go ahead with proposed changes to the off-payroll working rules, this could have a “disproportionate impact” on existing projects in the infrastructure and energy sectors which are heavily reliant on contractors and temporary workers, according to Chris Thomas , an employment tax expert at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-law.com.

New Zealand will ban single-use plastic bags over the next year, the government has announced.
Shops in the country will be given six months to stop providing lightweight plastic bags or face fines of up to NZ$100,000 (US$66,400).
“We’re phasing out single-use plastic bags so we can better look after our environment and safeguard New Zealand’s clean, green reputation,” said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. “Every year in New Zealand we use hundreds of millions of…

ANALYSIS: The EU has updated its ‘Blocking’ Regulation, coinciding with the reinstatement of the first tranche of US secondary sanctions against Iran.

A Thai court sentenced a disgraced former monk to 114 years in prison on Thursday, a court official said, more than a year after he was extradited from the US.
Wiraphon Sukphon made headlines in 2013 when footage emerged of him wearing designer aviator sunglasses with a Louis Vuitton bag on a private jet.
The 39-year-old fled to the US but was sent back after he was accused of raping a minor and deceiving donors who gave him money to build the world’s largest emerald Buddha image.
A…

Days after a powerful earthquake rocked Indonesia’s resort island of Lombok, killing more than 160 people and sending thousands of tourists fleeing, its beach strip stands eerily empty, with shops and hotels closed.
Any hotels still open are refusing guests out of safety concerns, while nearby restaurants and dive shops lie vacant in what is usually one of their busiest months of the year, reeling from the devastation of tourism caused by the quake.
“It went from high season just a…

Facebook apologised after users posting about a deadly earthquake in Indonesia on the social media platform saw their messages decorated with images of balloons and confetti.
A 6.9 magnitude quake struck the tourist island of Lombok on Sunday, killing at least 164 people and leaving thousands homeless, according to the government-run Antara news agency.
Many Indonesian speakers wrote messages on Facebook using the word ‘selamat’ – which can mean ‘safe’ but also…

UK landowners, telecommunications operators and the government will work collaboratively to implement the revised Electronic Communications Code (‘new Code’) and deliver the UK’s digital connectivity ambitions.